Progress and innovation of nanostructured sulfur cathodes and metal-free anodes for room-temperature Na–S batteries

• Marina Tabuyo-Martínez,
• Bernd Wicklein and
• Pilar Aranda

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 995–1020, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.75

• systems, but the current lithium-ion battery technology may face limitations in the future concerning the availability of raw materials and socio-economic insecurities. Sodium–sulfur (Na–S) batteries are a promising alternative energy storage device for small- to large-scale applications driven by more

• , Na dendrite growth, and slow reaction kinetics by nanostructuring both the sulfur cathode and the Na anode. Moreover, a survey of recent patents on room temperature (RT) Na–S batteries revealed that nanostructured sulfur and sodium electrodes are still in the minority, which suggests that much

• investigation and innovation is needed until RT Na–S batteries can be commercialized. Keywords: composites; metal-free anode; Na–S; sodium nanostructures; sodium–sulfur batteries; sulfur nanostructures; Introduction The progress and innovation of cheaper, cleaner, safer, and more efficient electrical energy

A Au/CuNiCoS₄/p-Si photodiode: electrical and morphological characterization

• Adem Koçyiğit,
• Adem Sarılmaz,
• Teoman Öztürk,
• Faruk Ozel and
• Murat Yıldırım

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 984–994, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.74

• . In this formula, A and B are cations which can be divalent, trivalent, or tetravalent. X represents anions of a chalcogen, oxygen, or sulfur [3]. Thiospinels are one of the most interesting spinels [4][5]. These sulfur-based spinel compounds have a high potential to be used in energy applications due

• CuAc2, NiAc2, CoAc2, and 1.75 mmol TOPO were mixed with 10 mL ODE in a three-neck flask under Ar atmosphere for 30 min. Then the reaction solution was placed in a heating mantle, and the temperature was set to 210 °C. Separately, the sulfur solution was prepared by mixing 0.125 mL DDT with 0.875 mL tert

• -DDT in a glass vial, and the solution was heated up to 70 °C. When the reaction temperature reached 120 °C, the color of the reaction solution turned to black, and the sulfur solution was added into the reaction medium. The solution was heated until the synthesis temperature reached 210 °C, and it was

Comprehensive review on ultrasound-responsive theranostic nanomaterials: mechanisms, structures and medical applications

• Sepand Tehrani Fateh,
• Lida Moradi,
• Elmira Kohan,
• Michael R. Hamblin and
• Amin Shiralizadeh Dezfuli

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 808–862, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.64

Silver nanoparticles nucleated in NaOH-treated halloysite: a potential antimicrobial material

• Yuri B. Matos,
• Rodrigo S. Romanus,
• Mattheus Torquato,
• Edgar H. de Souza,
• Rodrigo L. Villanova,
• Marlene Soares and
• Emilson R. Viana

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 798–807, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.63

• behaviour is most certainly due to the presence of DIO, a very hydrophobic substance itself. DIO is an organic molecule made of a long carbon chain “tail” attached to a thiol “head” (R-SH), which forms covalent bonds with silver via the sulfur atom. So, by mixing DIO and Ag/HNT-8 one is able to create a

Prediction of Co and Ru nanocluster morphology on 2D MoS₂ from interaction energies

• Cara-Lena Nies and
• Michael Nolan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 704–724, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.56

• stability of metal clusters on MoS2, and how these interactions change in the presence of a sulfur vacancy, to develop insight to allow for a prediction of thin film morphology. The strength of interaction between the metals and MoS2 is in the order Co > Ru. The competition between metal–substrate and metal

• –metal interaction allows us to conclude that 2D structures should be preferred for Co on MoS2, while Ru prefers 3D structures on MoS2. However, the presence of a sulfur vacancy decreases the metal–metal interaction, indicating that with controlled surface modification 2D Ru structures could be achieved

• is accompanied by notable surface distortions in the monolayer, in particular the migration of sulfur atoms off their original sites as Ru atoms incorporate into the S layer of MoS2. Such rearrangements are not seen for Cu or Co. The binding of Cu and Co nanoclusters appears to be driven by the

A review of defect engineering, ion implantation, and nanofabrication using the helium ion microscope

• Frances I. Allen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 633–664, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.52

• to preferential sputtering of sulfur, increasing the relative amount of molybdenum in the material. Finally, at even higher doses, insulating behavior re-emerged, presumed to be due to excessive material removal by sputtering. In related work, a nearest-neighbor hopping mechanism mediated by the

Impact of GaAs(100) surface preparation on EQE of AZO/Al₂O₃/p-GaAs photovoltaic structures

• Piotr Caban,
• Rafał Pietruszka,
• Jarosław Kaszewski,
• Monika Ożga,
• Bartłomiej S. Witkowski,
• Krzysztof Kopalko,
• Piotr Kuźmiuk,
• Katarzyna Gwóźdź,
• Ewa Płaczek-Popko,
• Krystyna Lawniczak-Jablonska and
• Marek Godlewski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 578–592, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.48

• solution with no final passivation. Subsequent I–V measurements, however, confirmed that from these samples, only the sulfur-passivated ones provided the highest current density. The tested devices were fabricated by using the ALD method. Keywords: atomic layer deposition; external quantum efficiency

• the surface of GaAs is based on chalcogenide (sulfides or selenides) passivation [7]. In particular, sulfur-containing solutions of compounds such as P2S5, (NH4)2S, and Na2S perform an effective passivation that substantially reduces further oxidation. In general, the protection mechanism consists in

• (ending with the same suffix) but with an extra sulfur-passivation step utilizing a 10% ammonium sulfide (NH4)2S aqueous solution (SA10). The passivation was conducted within a separate additional stage just before the ALD process. Thus, the numerical suffixes in both groups denote the specific path of

Fusion of purple membranes triggered by immobilization on carbon nanomembranes

• René Riedel,
• Natalie Frese,
• Fang Yang,
• Martin Wortmann,
• Raphael Dalpke,
• Daniel Rhinow,
• Norbert Hampp and
• Armin Gölzhäuser

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 93–101, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.8

• to 399.2 eV, by the broadening of the oxygen and carbon peak, and by additional sulfur species belonging to thiol groups no longer bound to gold after cross-linking. The presence of oxygen in the CNM spectrum is due to atmospheric contamination and can theoretically be avoided by preparation in high

Bio-imaging with the helium-ion microscope: A review

• Matthias Schmidt,
• James M. Byrne and
• Ilari J. Maasilta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1–23, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.1

• promising tool to study intracellular deposits of certain chemical elements. An example are phosphate granules in algal biofilms, which were previously investigated using multiple microscopes in a correlative study [46]. Another, certainly more challenging, example would be the identification of iron–sulfur

Selective detection of complex gas mixtures using point contacts: concept, method and tools

• Alexander P. Pospelov,
• Victor I. Belan,
• Dmytro O. Harbuz,
• Volodymyr L. Vakula,
• Lyudmila V. Kamarchuk,
• Yuliya V. Volkova and
• Gennadii V. Kamarchuk

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1631–1643, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.146

• breath contains oxidizing agents (e.g., nitrogen oxides, carbon oxide, and sulfur oxides), reducing agents (e.g., hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, mercaptans, and organic molecules), and other chemically active components that can participate in various chemical transformations. It is known, for example, that

High-responsivity hybrid α-Ag₂S/Si photodetector prepared by pulsed laser ablation in liquid

• Raid A. Ismail,
• Hanan A. Rawdhan and
• Duha S. Ahmed

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1596–1607, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.142

• vibration and silver material is expelled from the target surface in the form of a plasma plum. Thus, silver ions Ag+ and sulfur ions S2− are produced from silver target and thiourea solution, respectively. They form Ag2S NPs according to the following chemical reaction [21]: Figure 3 shows the XRD patterns

Cu₂O nanoparticles for the degradation of methyl parathion

• Juan Rizo,
• David Díaz,
• Benito Reyes-Trejo and
• M. Josefina Arellano-Jiménez

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1546–1555, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.137

• + of CuO and the sulfur atom of MP [53]. Further research regarding this topic is in progress. Also, we were not able to quantify the amount of CuO in both samples (16 and 29 nm). However, they both contain CuO. Hence this is not the most probable cause for the small degradation difference between 16

Antimicrobial metal-based nanoparticles: a review on their synthesis, types and antimicrobial action

• Matías Guerrero Correa,
• Fernanda B. Martínez,
• Cristian Patiño Vidal,
• Camilo Streitt,
• Juan Escrig and
• Carol Lopez de Dicastillo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1450–1469, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.129

• can affect the expression of the ribosomal subunit that interacts with sulfur- and phosphorus-containing groups of proteins, even in the cell wall and plasma membrane bacteria [165][166]. Cui et al. (2012) showed that Au NPs prevented the combination of a ribosomal subunit with tRNA and collapsed the

Effect of localized helium ion irradiation on the performance of synthetic monolayer MoS₂ field-effect transistors

• Jakub Jadwiszczak,
• Pierce Maguire,
• Conor P. Cullen,
• Georg S. Duesberg and
• Hongzhou Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1329–1335, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.117

• improvement of both the carrier mobility in the transistor channel and the electrical conductance of the MoS2, due to doping with ion beam-created sulfur vacancies. Larger areal irradiations introduce a higher concentration of scattering centers, hampering the electrical performance of the device. In addition

• cm−2 [13][14][15][16][17], as well as good electrical conductivity for up to approx. 1018 ions cm−2 [9][10][18]. Sulfur vacancies (SVs) and the formation of a dislocation–divacancy complex can lead to significant n-doping in MoS2 [19], which shifts the threshold voltage (Vth) of the FET to higher

• helium ion microscope chamber (after initial electrical testing to confirm functionality) and were irradiated with the stage tilt angle set to 0°. At this angle of incidence, the helium ion beam ought to produce sulfur vacancies chiefly in the bottom sulfuric layer of the SiO2-supported MoS2 flake [34

Straightforward synthesis of gold nanoparticles by adding water to an engineered small dendrimer

• Sébastien Gottis,
• Régis Laurent,
• Vincent Collière and
• Anne-Marie Caminade

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1110–1118, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.95

• nanoparticle synthesis due to the reactivity of this linkage [37][38][39] and due to its ability to complex metals, especially gold(I), with the sulfur atom [40][41]. A recent theoretical work demonstrated that the highest occupied molecular orbital of a small dendrimer containing the P=N–P=S linkage is

• gold atom to the sulfur atom and thus the electron-withdrawing power of the sulfur towards phosphorus decreases [42]. This is consistent with the decrease observed for the 2JPP coupling constant upon complexation (Table 1). Synthesis of gold nanoparticles and UV–vis characterization The dissolution of

• performed in parallel with TEM. All the characteristic X-ray lines expected from the gold L and M series were observed when focusing on the gold nanoparticles (Figure 4A). The signals obtained from the background (close to the nanoparticles) showed phosphorus and sulfur atoms both coming from the dendrimers

Microwave-induced electric discharges on metal particles for the synthesis of inorganic nanomaterials under solvent-free conditions

• Vijay Tripathi,
• Harit Kumar,
• Anubhav Agarwal and
• Leela S. Panchakarla

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1019–1025, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.86

• (2.54 GHz, power 700 W) and treated for periods of time between 5 s and 2 min. Arcs were generated in the activated metal, which evaporated the metal along with carbon. Carbon-coated metallic nanoparticles formed on the top lid of the reaction vessel. For synthesizing nanorods, sulfur was used as a

• growth promoter. Typically, a mixture of activated metal (100 mg), sulfur powder (25 mg) and g-C3N4 (50 mg) were added to a Teflon beaker and irradiated with microwaves. It is important to note that in the absence of carbon (graphite/g-C3N4), the arc synthesis yielded a mixture of metal and metal oxide

• . The average diameter of the nanorods is 100 nm and the length ranges from 2 to 3 µm. The formation of external amorphous fluorinated carbon nanotubes helps as a template in the formation of ZnF2 nanorods. It is well established that sulfur acts as a growth promoter for carbon nanotubes and carbon

Electromigration-induced directional steps towards the formation of single atomic Ag contacts

• Atasi Chatterjee,
• Christoph Tegenkamp and
• Herbert Pfnür

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 680–687, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.55

• Ag structures as they are quite susceptible to sulfur contamination under ambient conditions. UHV also provided an ultra-clean environment for point contact measurements. Two out of the four available tips were used for the EM measurements. The tips were pre-cooled by making electrical (and

Silver-decorated gel-shell nanobeads: physicochemical characterization and evaluation of antibacterial properties

• Marta Bartel,
• Katarzyna Markowska,
• Marcin Strawski,
• Krystyna Wolska and
• Maciej Mazur

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 620–630, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.49

• layer producing silver nanoparticles but also transforms a fraction of sulfonic groups in the polymer to moieties with sulfur in a lower oxidation state, likely thiols. It is hypothesized that the generated thiol groups are anchoring the nanoparticles in the gel shell of the nanobeads stabilizing the

• silver nanoparticles are generated within the outer 7 nm gel shell of the particle while the polystyrene core is left intact. Next, the PSSAg nanobeads were studied with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The spectrum confirms the presence of silver and sulfur in the sample. Figure 5 shows the high

• , with respect to the overall amount of Ag). The S 2p signal reveals the presence of two non-equivalent types of sulfur atoms in the sample (the ratio of these two types of atoms is 1.2:1). The spin–orbit doublet (2p3/2/2p1/2) with a 2:1 intensity ratio and a binding energy splitting of 1.16 eV was used

DFT calculations of the structure and stability of copper clusters on MoS₂

• Cara-Lena Nies and
• Michael Nolan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 391–406, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.30

• are 5.4 eV for Cu, 4.2 eV for Ag and 4.5 eV for Au. The presence of a complete row of sulfur vacancies enhances the adsorption energy of the nanoparticles for all three metals, increasing it to 7.1 eV, 7.0 eV and 6.0 eV for Cu, Ag and Au, respectively. It also increases the charge transfer from the

• increases [2]. Experimental methods for controlling the formation of sulfur vacancies in the MoS2 monolayer have also been developed [33], and this would allow for the targeted use of S vacancies to enhance desired properties such as adsorption energy. In this study we aim to fill the gap in the literature

• site and do not have a strong effect on the strength of adsorption. Bader charge analyses of Cu atoms and adjacent Mo and S atoms are shown in Table 4, Table 5 and Table 6. It shows that Cu atoms that bind directly with multiple sulfur atoms on the MoS2 layer, for example at sites 2 and 3, are clearly

An advanced structural characterization of templated meso-macroporous carbon monoliths by small- and wide-angle scattering techniques

• Felix M. Badaczewski,
• Marc O. Loeh,
• Torben Pfaff,
• Dirk Wallacher,
• Daniel Clemens and
• Bernd M. Smarsly

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 310–322, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.23

• are potential candidates for lithium or lithium–sulfur battery systems, in which the carbon acts as a conductive matrix [41][42][43]. Other important features for this kind of applications are the connectivity and the accessibility of the pore network. The connection between large and small pores can

Size effects of graphene nanoplatelets on the properties of high-density polyethylene nanocomposites: morphological, thermal, electrical, and mechanical characterization

• Tuba Evgin,
• Alpaslan Turgut,
• Georges Hamaoui,
• Zdenko Spitalsky,
• Nicolas Horny,
• Matej Micusik,
• Mihai Chirtoc,
• Mehmet Sarikanat and
• Maria Omastova

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 167–179, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.14

• contamination with sulfur was observed (0.3 atom %, S 2p at ≈164–169 eV). However, the small differences in the GnPs’ surfaces’ chemical composition did not affect the properties of the HDPE-based nanocomposites. The results of FTIR analysis are shown in Figure 3a (further details can be found in Figures S1–S7

Evaluation of click chemistry microarrays for immunosensing of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP)

• Seyed Mohammad Mahdi Dadfar,
• Sylwia Sekula-Neuner,
• Vanessa Trouillet,
• Hui-Yu Liu,
• Ravi Kumar,
• Annie K. Powell and
• Michael Hirtz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2505–2515, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.241

• clear sulfur signal attributed to the thiol and a weak component at 168.0 eV probably due to the oxidation of some sulfur atoms (Figure 2d). The next steps (route 3 and 4) can be followed by the increase of the nitrogen content at the surface (Figure 2e and Figure 2f). The C 1s peak (Figure 2g

Mobility of charge carriers in self-assembled monolayers

• Zhihua Fu,
• Tatjana Ladnorg,
• Hartmut Gliemann,
• Alexander Welle,
• Asif Bashir,
• Michael Rohwerder,
• Qiang Zhang,
• Björn Schüpbach,
• Andreas Terfort and
• Christof Wöll

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2449–2458, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.235

• present paper is on charge transport between adjacent anthracene units for which other reliable data on bulk crystals are available. In the present study, we have used an anthracene unit to which a sulfur anchor atom is connected via a triple bond and another phenyl unit (see Figure 1e). The latter two

Air oxidation of sulfur mustard gas simulants using a pyrene-based metal–organic framework photocatalyst

• Ghada Ayoub,
• Mihails Arhangelskis,
• Xuan Zhang,
• Florencia Son,
• Timur Islamoglu,
• Tomislav Friščić and
• Omar K. Farha

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2422–2427, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.232

• ; photocatalysis; singlet oxygen; sulfur mustard gas; Introduction Sulfur mustard gas also known as mustard gas, HD, or Yperite belongs to a class of chemical warfare agents (CWAs) known as vesicants, which have detrimental effects on humans, including the blistering of skin upon contact [1]. Even at a low dosage

• [2], this chemical can be fatal. Although in 1993 at the Chemical Weapon Convention (CWC) 192 nations signed an agreement to outlaw the production, stockpiling, and deployment of chemical weapons, sulfur mustard gas has continuously been used against civilians and soldiers over the past several

• decades [3], including as recently as 2018 in Syria [4][5][6][7]. Therefore, it is imperative to design and develop novel methods for the detoxification of sulfur mustard gas in stockpiles as well as in the battle field. There are several routes for the detoxification of sulfur mustard gas, including: 1

Design and facile synthesis of defect-rich C-MoS₂/rGO nanosheets for enhanced lithium–sulfur battery performance

• Chengxiang Tian,
• Juwei Wu,
• Zheng Ma,
• Bo Li,
• Pengcheng Li,
• Xiaotao Zu and
• Xia Xiang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2251–2260, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.217

• composite with both large surface area and high porosity for the use as advanced electrode material in lithium–sulfur batteries. Double modified defect-rich MoS2 nanosheets are successfully prepared by introducing reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and amorphous carbon. The conductibility of the cathodes can be

• improved through the combination of amorphous carbon and rGO, which could also limit the dissolution of polysulfides. After annealing at different temperatures, it is found that the C-MoS2/rGO-6-S composite annealed at 600 °C yields a noticeably enhanced performance of lithium–sulfur batteries, with a high

• construction of other high-performance metal disulfide electrodes for electrochemical energy storage. Keywords: annealing; double modification; high-performance electrodes; lithium–sulfur battery; molybdenum disulfide (MoS2); reduced graphene oxide (rGO); Introduction Lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries have